Its Only A Paper Moon
by Kurissyma san Tybalt
Summary: Oh it's only a paper moon, floating over a cardboard sea, but it wouldn't be makebelieve if you believed in me... Royai 100 themes revamped!
1. Military Personnel

**1. Military Personnel**

During the memorial service that took place that night, they called her a patriot and a martyr. They described her as a woman who proudly supported and defended her country and its way of life, and who made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of the advancement of the military.

…Major Elizabeth Hawkeye…

The ceremony was remarkably similar to Hughes'- the same sentiments expressed, the same bleak sermon. It was, I realised with a pang, a soldier's funeral. Criterion and austere. It was a farewell to a member of the military- indiscriminate of their gender, age, rank, individuality, strengths and weaknesses. The same as every other before it.

I could imagine Riza turning in her grave as the service progressed. She would hate to be buried like this, I thought. A faceless corpse in a uniform grave- the exact same as all of the others…

She wasn't just a soldier, dammit!! She was more than just military personnel!!

Only I knew that she was not how she appeared to those conceited and pretentious higher-up bastards. Not one of them knew a thing about Riza Hawkeye as an individual. She was the living documentation of her skills and accomplishments and a killing machine that could be manipulated at will… That's all she was to them.

My hands were shaking so badly I feared that I might cause a spark as I clasped them together…

Not one of the men who spoke at her funeral mentioned just how beautiful she was, nor how kind, nor how sweet and unpresumptuous. None of them mentioned how very much like a mother she was to the Elrics, nor the unique manner of discipline with which she kept her dear Black Hayate in line… All of these wonderful things that made her the woman she was were set aside in favour of this image of a perfect soldier- however inaccurate it may have been.

She didn't fight for the sake of the military's advancement, she didn't pull the trigger for a cause she didn't believe wholly in, and, when it came to the end, she didn't even die for the sake of her country as they so plainly said.

She fought for the future of Amestris, she pulled the trigger for our noble cause, and she died… She died solely for me- for nothing more glorious than ensuring the survival of a broken man and his impossible dream.

Riza Hawkeye did not die for the sake of the military. She'd died for love.

-

**Dear Faithful Readers,**

**I apologize for how depressing my first theme turned out- they won't all be like this, I swear! Also, I'd like to disclaim the song 'Its only a paper moon'**

**-Riss**


	2. Gunshot

**2. Gunshot**

Roy's POV 

I remember thinking a lot during the Ishbal war that I shouldn't have taken so much comfort from gunshots.

It was a sound that sent the vast majority of my men spiralling into dreadful trepidation and a frighteningly tumultuous state of mind. Some, I know, were driven mad by it- harsh and cruel in its sharp simplicity.

The sound of a single shot being fired by one of our snipers meant that, without a doubt, that person had just died. There was never any question. This thought sickened the other soldiers, yet only served to fill me with a sort of insane reprieve and relief.

A gunshot meant that we could sleep soundly and without fear come nightfall.

A gunshot meant that the muscle and the resolve of our enemy were weakening.

But most of all, a gunshot meant that somewhere, somehow, She was still fighting.

A gunshot meant that my beloved was still alive and watching my back.

A gunshot meant that I still had reason to live and move on.

As long as I could hear her gunfire, I was safe from my own arms.

_192 Words_


	3. Battlefield

**3. Battlefield**

"No! No! No! I am _not_ going! You can't make me!! It's like a freaking battlefield out there!!"

Riza Hawkeye regarded her husband through the driver's side window of their car sceptically. "Roy, it's a carnival," she reminded him sternly. "And little Epony will never forgive you if you don't get out of the car now and come with us. You promised the kids rides and candy floss and its her very first carnival, you know-?" Riza paused to analyse his straight, determined face and shook her head, sighing in defeat. "Grow up, Roy. Don't make me beg you."

Though rather aroused by the memory of the last thing he had made his wife beg for, Roy shook his head, and might have spoken if it weren't for a sudden interruption.

"_Mummy! _What's taking Daddy so long?!" Little Epony, the youngest of the three Hawkeye-Mustang children called out from her perch on the shoulders of the eldest sister, Rosequartz.

Riza turned back to Roy silently, raised an eyebrow and gestured towards the children standing a little ways off at the edge of the carpark, but Roy was adamant.

"I'm telling you! It's worse than a battlefield!!" he complained loudly. "It's hot, sticky, swarming with people, the _food_ is _toxic-_"

"Royyyy," Riza mock-whined, while resting a hand on her thigh threateningly.

"You- you aren't really wearing your thigh holster under that skirt, are you, Rize?" Roy blanched, suddenly in a panic.

"If you do as you're told today, I _might_ let you check _tonight_," she bargained suggestively, and Roy was out of his seat and through the door in an instant.

"What're you waiting for, love?!" he called out down the path as he caught up to his kids, practically skipping by this point. "This is war!!"

-

_299 words_


	4. Grave

**AN. I just love going against the norm, don't I? First 'Battlefield' was a carnival and now… well, you'll see! -Riss**

**4. Grave**

Riza had been in labour for 12 hours. Was that good? Was that bad? Roy had no idea. All he knew that it must be _damn_ painful because she was screaming like bloody murder in there.

Yes: The great Roy Mustang had been reduced to exile, sitting outside a room wherein the love of his life was probably in more pain than she'd ever felt in her entire life- a tough mark to beat for a soldier of her calibre and experience. Nervously, he shifted his chair a little closer to the door as Riza gave a particularly shrill cry.

Moments later, a bright red Maria Ross, dripping sweat, stumbled out of the room and fell against the opposite wall of the corridor, looking completely exhausted. Roy shot to his feet, immediately offering her his chair with a look of pure horror on his face. If Maria was in this sort of state…

The Lieutenant sat down with a grateful sigh and leaned her head against the wall. "Mr Mustang," she whispered hoarsely. "Your wife… wants a word."

Roy glanced at the closed door, shaking in terror as the distressed cries from within calmed, only to be replaced by a much louder, more piercing wail immediately thereafter.

Maria smiled encouragingly. "Go ahead, Daddy."

A hand on the doorknob, Roy paused. "Is she okay?" he asked, absolutely petrified of what he was about to see.

Maria shot him a wry smile and nodded. "Just a little cranky," she assured him and he paled considerably.

Yes, Roy's position was, indeed, looking rather grave.


	5. Heiki

**AN. Had to think hard about where to leave this one. Sorry Chrissy, no lemon today…**

_**5. Heiki (Weapon) & Heiki (Fine)**_

"ROY! GET BACK HERE SO I CAN WHIP YOUR ASS!!" a seventeen-year-old Riza Hawkeye cried out in anguish, clenching her soaking dress in one fist and shaking the other at her father's alchemy student as she chased him out the stable doors in her thin cotton underdress.

"Catch me if you can!!" Roy called back over his shoulder, still waving about the empty bucket that had done the damage to Riza's frock. "And I seriously bet'cha can't!"

Riza sprinted after him, fuelled by anguish and gaining with every step. "I'll whip you, bastard!!" she screamed, and she could just imagine how her father's heart would palpitate if he could have heard that. Not that that had ever stopped her before…

Clenching her hands into fists, Riza glared ahead of her determinedly and, when she deemed herself at a suitable distance, she launched herself forward onto Roy's back with a cry.

The jump in itself was executed perfectly. It was really the timing that messed it up: right before one of the largest and most sudden slopes on her father's property. Now, how could she not have noticed that before?

Roy yelled out, dropped his bucket and clasped Riza to his chest protectively as the two of them crashed unceremoniously down the hill, apparently having forgotten that just a moment ago he had been trying to get as far away from her as humanly possible.

Similarly, Riza locked her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist and waited for it to end- which it did, of course, and the two of them slowed, apparently on level ground now, and rolled into a halt.

"Riza," Roy groaned eventually, shifting beneath her. "We've stopped."

"Have we?" asked Riza, not opening her eyes as she nuzzled into Roy's chest with a small moan.

"Yeah… Are you okay?"

Riza forced her eyes open, running a hand down her side falteringly before slipping it beneath the light underdress the boy between her legs had left her in before. Roy angled his head to watch with eyes wide in awe, but flinched as she drew a handgun out from what was evidently a holster at her thigh.

"Yeah, Roy," she said, smiling at him innocently as she sat up, slipping her legs over his sides to straddle his hips with a naughty little wiggle. "Me and my Beretta are fine."


	6. Death

_**An. A short drabble that I actually wrote while I was in Japan but probably never would have posted otherwise. Hope y'all like. -Riss**_

**6. Death**

Many claimed that Mustang's death was solely through fault of his own. The retired military officer had been repeated offered security upgrades on his civilian home but each plea had been met with refusal. He hadn't wanted anything that might interrupt or inconvenience his family in their everyday lives and he was absolutely set on that decision.

Snipers on the roof had been reluctantly agreed to at his wife's request; guards at all the entrances to the house and grounds, because his son, Maes, had thought that it would be cool; and he was also constantly armed.

In the end, though, it hadn't been enough and as Lieutenant Colonel Jean Havoc sat in the desecrated living room amongst the rubble from the blast that had been his dear friends' end, and as he watched Fuery and Breda attempt to console a desolate Maes Edward Mustang, all he could think to be thankful for was that She had died by his side, just like she had always meant to.

Riza Hawkeye: one-time Lieutenant Fuhrer, master sniper, dear friend, beloved wife, and finally, doting mother. In short, a woman who had come to gain all she had ever wanted in life.

A family, which even death could not possibly take away from her.


	7. Crime and Punishment

_**7. Crime and Punishment**_

Roy watched in awe as his beautiful lieutenant made her way down the aisle, a bright smile lighting up her pretty face as she approached him at the alter. Riza really did look stunning and, smiling at her standing before him, he had to wonder what on earth he had done to deserve such happiness as he was feeling now.

Apparently catching the cloud of doubt that had crossed over her lover's face, she smiled at him reassuringly- the same smile that had brought him safely through Ishbal and into his current position as Fuhrer President of Amestris.

"_I believe in Crime and Punishment," _she had whispered to him the night before, when the same doubts of his worth had come to light in the face of their imminent unity. _"I also believe that God has a reward system going for men like you."_

"_How can you be so sure?" _he had replied, lifting up a hand to stroke her cheek sadly.

"_Because I'm here and I love you, Roy," _was her only explanation. _"And tomorrow morning I am going to dress up in the fussiest, most unbearable dress that I have ever laid eyes on and you are going to slick your hair back in that awful formal style that I absolutely __**hate**__ and we are going to be wed. Then you're finally going to get your just deserts." _

"_Riza…" _Roy ducked his head to kiss her softly before drawing back with a smile to match her own.

"I do."


	8. Storelined streets

_**AN. Had a huge block on this one… probably my most difficult theme to date, surprisingly enough! I thought it'd be one of the easier ones! Hope you like anyway! -Riss**_

_**8. Store-lined Streets**_

I never figured myself as the type to end up working at a flower shop. It always seemed a little… petty. But hey, Gracia is my best friend- the least I can do is help out around the place until her business picks up. It's not a big deal at all… and it certainly doesn't warrant all this teasing from the men.

"Hey, Hawkeye! Got any 'Dwarf Poinciana'?" Breda snickered as he leaned against the counter. "My wife reckons it'll bring the butterflies back into the garden."

I forced a smile onto my face and attempted to act professional. "I'm afraid not, sir. That plant doesn't _grow_ in Amestris. We do, however, have a supply beautiful and fragrant Japanese Honeysuckle, which is also excellent at attracting butterflies. Or, if you don't like that, there's always _Cornutia Grandifolia_, which is a lovely tropical lilac-" I broke off, smirking, as I saw Breda's face, along with those of the Colonel's other men behind him, fall dramatically. "Not interested, sir?"

"Just gimme the lilac," he muttered grumpily.

"Just a moment," I said with a sickly smile and a small bow, before disappearing into the back of the shop to find him his plant. When I came out, however, he was gone, but Gracia had returned and was talking with Roy Mustang by the counter.

"Breda and the guys bailed," he explained needlessly as he looked up and saw me in the doorway.

I just sighed irritably and dumped the heavy pot on the desk. "Idiot…"

"Sorry, Riza," Gracia apologised sincerely. "I know that you really don't want to be here so why don't you go out with Mustang for a bit and I'll put those flowers away and take over."

"Oh, Grae, I don't mind-!" I assured her quickly, but she only shook her head.

"It's alright if this isn't your thing, Riza. Thanks for helping out- you've been absolutely perfect and you really deserve a break!"

I screwed up my face slightly but found myself agreeing. "If it's not too much to ask…" I sighed and she practically shoved Roy and I out the door- only giving me half a second to call Hayate out from the back room before we were out on the streets again.

I glanced at Roy but he only shrugged with a grin in reply to my unspoken question. "What do you want to do?" he asked politely and I shrugged as well before setting off down the store-lined streets with no real goal in mind.

"We could pick up a couple more apples to back home," I suggested after a while, catching glance of a vendor in the street. "Might as well do the groceries while we're out- going out again later would put needless strain on your leg…"

Roy whacked me with his stick playfully. "I'm _fine_- the stupid doctor is paranoid."

"That, or he doesn't want the death of a General on his hands," I agreed mildly. "…Neither do I, by the way, so look out for yourself while I go and get some of those apples."

Another whack with the stick. I took that as a 'hurry up' sort of gesture and dashed over to the vendor.

After Roy's injury, he claimed to have discovered an incredible liking for apples and now regularly declared to me that he was rather craving one. It was silly really- he just liked attention and the fact that he could watch me as I removed the skin and cut them up. I never really understood his fascination with watching me, though…

"Come on, Riza- how hard can it be to choose a couple of apples?" he called from behind and I spun around to offer him an apologetic little grin- I'd been spacing out again, hadn't I…? Ahaha…

"I'll just be a minute!" I called back, smiling at him happily, before turning back to face the vendor, paying for the apples and leading the way on down this idyllic little store-lined street.

Grocery shopping with Roy Mustang, huh? I had to be just about the luckiest woman in Amestris. And this time, it was going to stay that way.


	9. Unknown Past:Before We Knew Each Other

**9. Unknown Past/Before We Knew Each Other**

**Roy's POV**

When I first saw you I thought that you were a goddess- above me in every way possible. You were kind, smart, beautiful and, more than anything, untouchable… Sensei's perfect little treasure.

I didn't know then what I know now. I didn't know that you were hurting inside, that you were scared and lonely or that you bore such a heavy burden. Young as you were, I never would have thought…

Now, in the dim lighting of your bedroom on the eve of your father's funeral, the tears flow freely from your amber eyes, but not for him. I know that you could never cry for the man who did this to you. As the soft silk of your black dress spills from your gorgeous body, and your deathly beautiful array is revealed to me for the first time, I can see the sort of life you must have led.

Every morning when you greeted me with a smile- when I walked into the kitchen and you were already there, making breakfast over the old gas stove. You'd been steered there by your nightmares, hadn't you? Cooking was just something to occupy your hands until the sun came up and you didn't have to be afraid anymore.

You were always scared, always afraid, and I didn't see it in you. I never saw it in you…

Now it's different. You look at me with that fear in your eyes and willingly show me what you've been hiding all along- your sadness and your pain.

It breaks my heart and I vow then and there to protect you. I will fight for you- my beautiful little girl. You, who are not perfect- you, who have been scarred and brutalised by her own father and can never truly be freed from that miserable reality… I will protect you always.

You will never have cause again to hurt that way as long as I live.


	10. Promise

**10. Promise**

Promise is most given when the least is said. George Chapman

Standing on the edge of a cliff, one often wonders what would become of them if they just… fell. It does not matter, at this stage, whether or not that person has wings, or strength enough to make the jump, all that matters is the possibility of falling and being unable to return to that which has just been left…

But because of you these possibilities do not exist for me. You stand by my side, always, with your hand in mine. At times, in life, you will spur me on to jump, no matter what the consequences may be, and at others, you will hold me back- a gentle hand on my shoulder. It's enough.

Standing on the edge of a cliff is hard. It is impossible to know what lies ahead and even you, my love, are sometimes wrong. Whether it is the wind or the waves for me to face, I will trust your judgement. I will not doubt you, I will not leave you. When the time comes we will jump together and we will fly.

**I promise.**

Standing on the edge of a cliff is hard, but I have you.

I have you.


	11. Liar

**11. Liar**

**Roy's POV**

We weren't 'right' for months after I returned, I know we weren't. I had hurt you badly- something that I swore to myself, above anything else, that I would never ever do. I thought that it was best to stay away from you, but you didn't want that, and I didn't want that… I still thought that it was best. I didn't want to hurt you.

Then one day, I saw you walking down the street. You were walking Hayate. Remember? You were wearing a dark grey skirt and a pretty short-sleeved white blouse with frills that I thought made you look absolutely adorable. Your hair was down, so were your eyes.

You looked up as we passed and you looked surprised to see me. I was surprised to see you, too. You stopped walking and Hayate barked happily as I kneeled down to scratch his head. I did it out of habit.

You didn't say anything to me, but it didn't matter. A few minutes later we were walking down the street together as though we had never been separated. Your arm came around my waist and I turned my head to kiss your cheek lightly.

George Elliot once said that falsehood was easy where truth was difficult, but he was wrong.

There was nothing easier than this.

When I told you that I loved you.


	12. Proof

**AN.. Written at 6 on a Sunday morning. I am awake because of evilly crippling cramps. Please don't criticize this chapter!!**

**12. Proof**

Riza Hawkeye liked to think that she was a rational woman. She was sensible, capable of making reasonable judgements and neither expecting nor demanding more than what was possible of any subordinate or superior (except perhaps in the rather singular case of one Roy Mustang, who it was always fun to unload just a little extra work on for comic purposes).

It was therefore understandable, however, that she was rather hesitant to make large-scale decisions without the appropriate information at hand- one such decision being that of a possible union with the Fuhrer. Or, at least, it ought to have been.

The acceptance of Roy's love and his hand seemed to be the only things in Riza Hawkeye's rational mind that needed neither explanation nor justification, but that wasn't true. She had 12 years worth of proof that she had been trying to ignore from the beginning and, in the end, it was not the proof or the reasoning behind their mutual affection that won her around.

It was his heart.


End file.
